This study concerns the difficulties encountered by Nigerian students in pursuing graduate degrees in the North Texas area of the United States. The purposes of this study were: (a) to determine the extent to which the perceived difficulties are a result of financial difficulties, (b) to determine the extent to which language is perceived as an inhibiting factor during their period of study, (c) to determine the extent to which family problems contributed to the difficulties, (d) to determine the extent to which normal pressures in graduate school contributed to the difficulties, (e) to determine the extent to which time management contributed to the difficulties, (f) to determine the extent to which changes of schools/colleges within the United States contributed to the difficulties, (g) to determine the extent to which lack of advisement contributed to the difficulties, (h) to determine the extent to which health problems contributed to the difficulties, and (i) to determine the extent to which employment contributed to the difficulties.

Nine universities in the United States with the greatest number of international students and having an accredited music program through the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) were selected. Survey research methodologies were used to identify the status of the international music students from East Asia in U.S. higher education institutions and to determine their attitudes toward their schools. Among East Asian international music students at US higher education institutions, the results indicated that the professor's reputation, scholarships, and the program's reputation were perceived as the most influential factors impacting the program choice; a good relationship with professors, good feedback from professors, and emotional stability were perceived as the most influential factors impacting academic success; and the professor's teaching, the professor's expertise, and the improvement of musical skills were perceived as the most influential factors impacting students' satisfaction level. The most problematic issues reported were the language barrier and the cultural differences between their host and own countries. In addition, many of the East international music students in this study noted financial difficulties.

One purpose of this study was to identify the social adjustment problems experienced by Nigerian students in land-grant universities in the United States. A second purpose was to predict the severity of these problems with age, sex, marital status, English language proficiency, ownership of transportation, academic status, previous international experience, duration of stay in the United States, and the source of financial support. A questionnaire of 28 items was sent to a sample of 500 Nigerian students in land-grant universities in the United States. Out of these 500, a usable return of 337 (67.4%) was realized. A factor analysis was applied to these 26 items, 8nd six factors were extracted (feelings of discrimination, feelings of belonging, establishing relationships, feelings of adequacy, feelings of loneliness, and absence of home news). The mean, standard deviation, and rank for each item were calculated. In addition regression equations were calculated in studying the relationship between the severity of the problems and students' demographic descriptions. Major findings were: 1. Out of the 28 problems identified in the questionnaire, there were seventeen problems which elicited high concern and eleven areas which elicited low concern. 2. Students with less English language proficiency, with no transportation, with longer duration of stay in the United States, and undergraduates tended to identify discrimination as a greater problem. 3. Those with less English language proficiency, those with no transportation, females, and those that are married or single living without a spouse or intimate friend tended to identify feelings of belonging as a greater problem. 4. Students with less English language proficiency, with no transportation, females, self-supported students, those with longer duration of stay in the United States, and undergraduates tended to identify feelings of adequacy as a greater problem. 5. Students with less English language proficiency, with no transportation, with longer duration of stay in the United States, younger, and self-supported students tended to identify establishing relationships as a greater problem. 6. The younger, undergraduates, females, and married or single students living without a spouse or intimate friend tended to identify feelings of loneliness as a greater problem. 7. The older, self-supported students, undergraduates, and those with longer duration of stay in the United States tended to identify absence of news from home as a greater problem. / Ed. D.

This research explores the impact of complexity in federal income tax laws on taxpayer compliance. The primary research question is: Is complexity in the tax law associated with noncompliance? The research is unique in that previous work has not yet demonstrated an a priori circumstance in which taxpayers do not comply with the law when compliance would be in their economic self-interest. "Economic self-interest" is narrowly construed in this study, being defined as an individual's utility for saving tax dollars. "Complexity" is operationalized by the system of nonresident taxation. A situation is investigated wherein a set of taxpayers do not comply, when there is complexity in the tax law, even though compliance would reduce their tax liability. Examining compliance in this setting renders it unlikely that the confound opportunity to evade is related to observed noncompliance. The results indicate complexity is the key explanatory variable for noncompliance found in this study. / Ph. D.

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the Masters Degree of Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Globalization is impacting on education worldwide. As a result, the University of KwaZulu- Natal (UKZN), like other universities worldwide, have identified an opportunity to increase their profit margins by expanding their marketing initiatives internationally in order to recruit foreign students. The purpose of conducting this study was to investigate the sustainability of UKZN’s Student Exchange Programme in an increasingly competitive industry. The rationale behind the research is that communication challenges between UKZN, International Partner Universities and students, are threatening the overall success of the student exchange programme, with partners threatening to reduce their student exchange numbers. This rationale was tested via primary research in the form of a questionnaire distributed to international partner universities, who then randomly selected a target sample from students who had recently returned from a UKZN student exchange. Interviews were also conducted with a smaller sample and secondary research, in the form of a literature review of previous research findings and theoretical perspectives, was conducted. The sample comprised of ninety nine international students from first-world countries, who participated in a student exchange to UKZN. Respondent profiles included both male and female second-year tertiary respondents, from the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA). The major findings of the investigation revealed that the majority of respondents agreed that communication challenges at UKZN posed a credible threat to the future success of the exchange programme. UKZN should, therefore, focus on implementing long and short-term communication’s strategies. The research also found that, by addressing international concerns through the training and development of student exchange officers, will help equip officers to deal with a continually changing international relations’ climate.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how a group of Chinese business students understood the nature and the purpose of the instruction techniques they were exposed to in Britain, and the attitudes the students, Chinese lecturers in China and British lecturers in Britain held towards seminar discussions. The study also investigated how and to what extent students’ prior learning experiences predisposed them to certain attitudes towards seminar discussions. The student participants in this study undertook Part I of their degree programme at a Chinese university for two years before transferring to Britain to study for one year, graduating with a British Bachelors Degree in International Business. Data was gathered from classroom observations, follow-up and exploratory interviews, and a questionnaire survey to discover more about the students’ learning experiences in Part I in China, and from classroom observations, audio-recordings, and follow-up and exploratory interviews to investigate the same group of students’ learning experiences in Part II in Britain. A ranking task and interviews were used to identify the preferences of Chinese students, British lecturers, and Chinese lecturers from China in terms of specific group discussion methods. The study identified three discussion methods used by students in British seminars: these have been termed ‘spiral’, ‘exploratory’ and ‘individual’ methods. The Chinese students tended to use the ‘spiral’ method, repeatedly bringing the discussion back to the question provided by the seminar tutor, whereas the non-Chinese students tended to use the ‘exploratory’ method, reformulating each other’s opinions and building on them by bringing in new information. When discussing within Chinese-only groups, the Chinese students used the ‘individual’ method whereby a group leader took responsibility for the outcomes of the discussion and the other members did not build upon each other’s contributions. Chinese and non-Chinese students sometimes misunderstood each others’ intentions, but were not likely to notice that miscommunication had occurred. The ranking task and the follow-up interviews revealed that the British lecturers preferred the ‘exploratory’ discussion method, whereas Chinese lecturers from China and Chinese students preferred the ‘spiral’ method. The British lecturers were found to adopt a constructivist approach to group discussion tasks, seeing them as a means by which students could obtain professional experience. They treated Business and Management knowledge as divergent and ‘soft’. Chinese lecturers and students, on the other hand, were found to perceive group discussion as a kind of assessment and were keen to find ‘correct’ answers to case study problems, treating Business and Management as convergent and hard disciplines which offered judgements on good practice. The Chinese lecturers in Part I of the programme organised group discussion so that students could exchange answers and check their accuracy, and, perhaps because of this, in Part I the students learnt in an exam-oriented way, strategically dividing up their tasks and working individually on their own task portions in order to find an acceptable answer as quickly as possible. These students were found to continue to employ these strategies during group work after they had transferred to the British component of their degree programme. The study has made a theoretical contribution to knowledge concerning the cultural influences on students’ classroom interactional practices. The findings from the study have implications for the teaching of intercultural business communication, and the enhancement of students’ learning experiences in international business programmes, in business English programmes in China, and whilst learning within groups.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Higher education is challenged by the changing climate created by globalisation and the phenomenon of internationalisation. Internationalisation of higher education provides a platform for institutions to engage with counterparts across the world in a manner that would enhance the quality of all aspects of the institution, but also poses a number of challenges to institutions and higher education systems. The literature review of the study sketches the background to the study and analyses some of the above-mentioned opportunities and challenges. The study researched one aspect of internationalisation, namely the mobility of undergraduate students. The mobility of students can take place through an array of activities that includes summer school programmes, internships, or tailored short programmes. This study focuses on one type of mobility, namely an international exchange semester. The study stemmed from the actual problem at Stellenbosch University where a major imbalance exists in the number of students received from partner universities and of Stellenbosch students taking part in a semester at the partner university. The rationale and practice of international exchange semesters in four Faculties were analysed on multiple levels by means of a case study design. The four case studies were concluded in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of AgriSciences and the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and within these Faculties the investigation was restricted to general-formative programmes. Data were collected and analysed at four levels of each Faculty, namely the climate that is created through Faculty strategy, the views and perspectives of students in their final and pre-final year, the view and perspectives of programme coordinators, and finally, the views on a managerial level by means of the inputs of deputy deans. Each of the case studies reveals specific issues and opportunities for international exchange semesters within the particular Faculty, yet, the comparative perspectives reveal that the major barriers to student mobility are consistent across faculties, and that particularly the type of information available, the applicability of that information within the particular academic environment and financial aspects are consistently identified by students in all four Faculties. The barriers identified by staff, both on departmental and management level, resonate with the barriers identified by students, but further illustrate more specific organisational and pedagogical challenges linked to the implementation of international exchange semesters. The study not only makes a contribution to a deeper understanding of existing challenges pertaining to international mobility by means of an exchange semester but it also makes specific recommendations to address these challenges and poses alternatives to existing practices. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hoër onderwys word uitgedaag deur die veranderende omgewing as gevolg van globalisering en deur die verskynsel van internasionalisering. Internasionalisering van hoër onderwys bied ’n platform vir interaksie tussen instellings en hul eweknieë in ander wêrelddele op ’n wyse wat die gehalte van alle aspekte van die instellings kan bevorder. Internasionalisering is egter ook ’n verskynsel wat ’n bedreiging en ’n uitdaging vir instellings en hoëronderwysstelsels inhou. Die literatuurstudie van hierdie studie skets die agtergrond tot die studie en ontleed van hierdie geleenthede en uitdagings. Die studie het een aspek van internasionalisering, naamlik die mobiliteit van voorgraadse studente, ondersoek. Die mobiliteit van studente geskied deur ’n verskeidenheid aktiwiteite wat somerskole, internskappe en taalkursusse insluit. Die studie fokus op een aktiwiteit, naamlik internasionale uitruilsemesters. Die studie het gepruit uit ’n voortslepende uitdaging by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch (US) waar die aantal inkomende uitruilstudente van vennoot-instansies die aantal US studente wat aan uitruilsemesters deelneem, ver oorskry. Die rasionaal en uitvoering van internasionale uitruilsemesters in vier fakulteite is deur middel van ’n gevallestudie-ontwerp op verskeie vlakke ontleed om ʼn omvattende begrip te ontwikkel. Die vier gevallestudies is in die konteks van die Fakulteit Lettere en Sosiale Wetenskappe, Fakulteit Agriwetenskappe, Fakulteit Natuurwetenskappe en Fakulteit Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe uitgevoer, en in die studie van hierdie vier fakulteite is die konteks verder tot algemene vormende programme beperk. Data is ingewin en ontleed op vier vlakke in elke fakulteit, naamlik die platform wat geskep word deur die strategie van die fakulteit, die oortuigings en perspektiewe van studente in hulle finale en voor-finale jaar, die perspektiewe en insig van programkoördineerders, en laastens die perspektief op bestuursvlak deur middel van onderhoude met adjunkdekane. Elke gevallestudie onthul spesifieke kwessies ten opsigte van en geleenthede vir internasionale uitruilsemesters binne die betrokke fakulteit, maar die vergelykende perspektiewe dui aan dat die grootste struikelblokke vir studente mobiliteit deurlopend dieselfde is tussen die vier fakulteite. Die studie toon aan dat die beskikbaarheid van die tipe inligting, die toepaslikheid van daardie inligting op ‘n student se spesifieke situasie (program) en finansiële aspekte in al vier fakulteite deur studente gekies is. Die struikelblokke wat deur personeel, beide op departementele en bestuursvlak, uitgewys is vind aanklank by die struikelblokke wat deur studente aangedui is, maar illustreer ook verdere uitdagings ten opsigte van organisatoriese aspekte en pedagogiese uitdagings wat verband hou met die implementering van internasionale uitruilsemesters. Die studie maak nie net ‘n bydrae in terme van ‘n dieper verstaan van die bestaande uitdagings ten opsigte van internasionale studente mobiliteit deur middel van ‘n uitruilsemester nie, maar maak ook voorstelle oor hoe om hierdie uitdagings aan te spreek en stel alternatiewe voor vir die bestaande praktyke.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

A case study approach was adopted for this study. Four Taiwanese students enrolled in the writing program for international students at The University of Arizona were interviewed individually about (1) how they acquired the code of written English and what their L2 writing assumptions were upon entering The University of Arizona; and (2) what writing difficulties they experienced in a university writing program for international students and what their L2 writing assumptions were after completing a university writing program for international students. Findings from this research indicated that the four Taiwanese students did not have sufficient comprehensible input from pleasure reading or other voluntary, extracurricular sources. They acquired the code of written language from reading, participating in varied classroom activities such as small-group and whole-class discussions, peer review, teacher-student conferences, writing texts to different audiences for various purposes, analyzing model essays, practicing sentence combinations, and formal instruction in the composing process. Their writing difficulties could be summarized as follows: (1) not making good use of classroom activities to reshape ideas in terms of readers' expectations and their own writing intentions; (2) lack of experience to develop necessary reading and writing skills; (3) inadequate knowledge of the composing process; (4) inadequate syntax, vocabulary, or mechanics to express themselves in L2; (5) being influenced by their L1 rhetorical convention; (6) no intrinsic motivation to integrate with the target language, culture, or society; and (7) low expectations of success related to negative or weak teacher-student relationships. This research both reinforces and expands Krashen's (1984) model of second language acquisition and writing, showing the critical role of comprehensible input, the significance of natural acquisition over direct teaching of grammar rules and error correction, and the presence of an "affective" filter which is socially and culturally mediated, as well as cognitively and linguistically based.

“Not Drowning but Waving: The American Junior Year Abroad” explores and describes study abroad amongst college students while also showing the historical roots of study abroad. This thesis seeks to understand the history and current issues in study abroad while also giving a literary description of the experiences, personal changes, and development of insight in the students who decide to study abroad. The Introduction serves both as the introduction to my project as well as an overview of the history and current issues within study abroad. It is divided into three main parts. The first section discusses the impetus for the project, the research methodology, relevant literature, and the genre of creative nonfiction. The second section covers the history of American travel and study abroad, as well as the work of the Fulbright Program. The third section is a short survey of contemporary trends within study abroad, and addresses issues of gender, race, location, and student behavior while abroad. The creative portion of this thesis describes the study abroad students’ stories, experiences, and insights during and after a semester in Europe. The first three chapters of this section—“Leaving”, “Destinations” and “Guardians at the Gate”—describe some of the initial experiences during a semester abroad. Chapter one looks at the process of traveling to a new country and adapting to new cultural norms. Chapter two describes the study abroad destinations where I did my primary research for this project. Chapter three explores some logistical issues in study abroad, namely academics, finances, and housing. Chapter four explores the challenges students face after the initial excitement of study abroad wears off, and looks at the issues of student responsibility, danger, harassment, and alcohol abuse. Chapter five describes student travel habits, which is one of the most popular elements of study abroad but also one of the more problematic. Chapter six looks at the challenge of re-entry to North America for study abroad students, and chapter seven provides a conclusion to the piece.